With a Little Help From my Friends
by Little Revolutionist Ace
Summary: Owen Harper was never really in trouble. He's always had his guardian angel. *Mild swearing and hints of child abuse*


Owen Harper was never really in trouble. A young boy, -only three years old- a toddler still, is playing beside a duck pond in a central park. He wanders a little to close to the side and with a shrill squeak falls in. Eyes wide with fear, bubbles issuing from his mouth and his little arms flailing, the boy sees through the murky water a hand reaching for him. He grabs at the hand and is pulled up by a big man in an army coat. The boy and the man's eyes meet, and little Owen Harper promptly vomits all over his coat. The man takes him over to his mother, who is on a bench reading a trashy magazine and not paying any attention to the world around her. The man takes Owen by the hand and whispers a few words in his ear. He then walked away, leaving Owen staring after him. Five years old, and it is Owen Harpers first day at George Street Normal School. Saying goodbye to his parents and taking some food from the pantry, he begins his walk to school alone. A yellow VW pulls up beside him and a dirty man with a scraggly beard offers Owen some candy. Naively Owen is excited, but a man with an army coat is coming down the street (Owen doesn't remember him. All he remembers is a smacking for getting his clothes wet). The army man takes young Owen by the shoulder and says a few words to the dirty man in a low, dangerous voice. The man cringed and scampered. The army man walked Owen the rest of the way to school, and he was never bothered by the dirty men again. Sixteen years old and Owen is sick of life. He sneaks out - not that much sneaking is needed, after all his parents are wasted in front of the TV - and headed towards the all night Doctors. Handing them a forged prescription for his mothers benzodiazepine, Owen is handed over enough of the drug to kill himself several times over.  
Found overdosed on a street corner Owen is rushed to the hospital and wakes up in a strong man's arms with his face pressed against navy wool,and he faints again. Waking up in hospital he keeps seeing flashes from his subconscious, the swish of a blue coat from when he was three. The hand on his shoulder on his first day at school, guiding him to safety. All so familiar. He's unconsciousness again. When he wakes up he asks the name of the man who brought him in. The nurse just looks at him and says "Jack,". Twenty years old and Owen has learnt the love of his life is going to forget him. Outside her doctors room - where she is having a check up - he vows to himself that he will stop the disease eating away at her brain, he will save Kate. Doctor Owen Harper will save her. Seven years later, and she is fading. He studied, and got himself through medical school with a scholarship and looked after her. An saint, his teachers used to call him. Trying everything he could, he watched her fade away in front of him and he couldn't bear it. Leaving Kate at home with a book and a cup of tea, he buys a gun and ammunition. As he walks to his old home, where his folks still live, he wonders if she'll ever remember him. He passes his parents drunken comatose forms and goes up to his old room and is about to pull the trigger as his phone trills. The doctors found time to operate on Kate. - Persuaded by a mysterious man with a blue coat? - He returns to his flat, where he tells her the good news, after assuring her that he is no stranger (Insane Author: "Hark, can I hear a heart breaking?). Twenty-seven years, eight months, and thirteen days old, Owen Harper dies. The operation on Kate was a failure. Instead of saving Kate, it was the death of everyone on the team , and the table. A random dude he's never seen before is telling him his wife-to-be is dead because of an alien. Oh yeah, and aliens exist. Owen is fucking angry, and tells the man so by punching him in the face. Hard. The man walks up to him everywhere and tells him he needs a doctor. He joins Torchwood, - just to shut the man up - and meets Captain Jack Harkness. He has no idea that this is the man who saved him so many times, and Jack would never tell him. Owen Harper was never really in trouble. 


End file.
